Improvement in electric annunciators



J. B. SHANNON. Improvement i'n Electric-Annunciators.

N0., 127,931, Patent-edjune11,872.

ivrrnn JACOB B. SHANNON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

HVPRVEMENT EN ELECTRIC ANNUNCIATRS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 127,931, dated June 11, V1872.

Speciication describing certain Improvements in Electric Annuncia-tors, invented by JACOB B. SHANNON, of Philadelphia, Penn- Sylvania.

Improvements a Electric Aammcz'ators.

My invention relates to improvements in electric annunciators for hotels, steam-ships, Svc.; the said improvements, which are fully described hereafter, consisting principally of a novel method of operating the covers for the numbers or characters designating the several rooms, and also of mechanism for adjusting and controlling the movements of the said covers.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a front elevation of sufficient of an electric annunciator to illustrate my improvements, and Fig. 2 a perspective View of the same.

The annunciator is ofthe same general chan acter as those' in common use, A being the frame, and B a faceplate secured to the same, on which is marked a series of numbers or other characters designating the several rooms 4or apartmentsl of the building` or vessel for which the annunciator is to be used. Each of these numbers has a separate cover, D, each capable of being operated independently, in such a manner as to expose its number, by the armature of a magnet, E, one of which is provided for each number and cover. rThe whole of these magnets are connected by wires to the same battery, and also to a single electric alarm, which is generally arrangedwithin or upon the top of the frame A, and each magnet has also an independent wire leading to the room which its number designates. In the latter the wire is attached to a spring-knob or .other device by which a circuit can be completed, with a branch wire attached to one of the main Wires of the battery; and, when the circuit is thus completed in any room, an alarm will be sounded simultaneously with the operating of the armature of the proper magnet, the movement of the armature causing the release of the cover which it controls, and the consequent exposure of the number designating the room in which the circuit has been completed.

It has not been deemed necessary in the present instance to illustrate the alarm mechanism or any of the wires, these parts, which are well known, being omitted in order to enable my invention, which relates especially to the covers and to the mechanism for operating and controlling the same, to be illustrated beneath its number, so that when released it shall fall and expose the latter, as illustrated at l in the drawing. The armature F, with which each magnet is provided, consists of a bent lever, having its fulcrum at c on a fixed projection, d, and constantly acted upon by a weight, e, at its upper end, which tends to draw it away from the magnet, as indicated by the arrow l in Fig. 2. By thus weighting the lever-arm ature the usual objectionable springs may be dispensed with. At its lower end the armature is formed into a hook, f, which, under the circumstances described hereafter, extends into the path of and serves as a support for a hooked arm, g, secured to the inner end The latter has also at its inner end two plain arms, 7L and h', which can, whatever the position of the hooked armature, be turned without striking the latter. These arms h and h', excepting when the hooked arm grests upon andis supported by the hooked armature, extends behind a sliding frame,.J, and into the path of two projections, i and i', with which the said frame is provided at a point opposite each sleeve c and its arms. The frame J is situated immediately at the rear of the face-plate B, and is arranged to slide in either direction upon screws or pins K to the extent permitted by slots l in the frame, through which the said screws pass. The frame is operated by a lever, K, having its fulcrum at m, and constantly acted upon by a spring, p, which tends to maintain the said lever and sliding' frame in the position shown in Fig. 1. The lever K may be turned directly by hand; but in the full-sized apparatus it is generally operated by a rotating knob, having at the inner end of its spindle a slotted arm, through which is passed a pin, q, at the lower extremity of the said lever K.

The operation of the apparatus as above described is' as follows: The covers, when turned to the position shown at D2 and D3, in order to conceal their respective numbers upon the face-plate, are sustained in such position and prevented from falling by the lhooked arms g at the inner ends of their sleeves af, which rest upon the hooks j' of their respective armatures. W hen the covers are thus adjusted and held the arms h and h at the inner ends of their sleeves Will be raised clear of the projections t' and fi of the" sliding frame J, so that the latter may be moved back and forth Without striking the same, and Without therefore disturbing the covers. lf any one or more of the covers, however, has been released and permitted to drop, as shown at D and D1, so as to expose its number, the arms h and 71,' of each depressed cover will be brought into the path of the corresponding project-ions z' and t of the sliding frame, so that by moving the latter in the direction of the arrow 2 the said projections will act successively upon the arms h and h and turn the latter and their cover in the direction ofthe arrowr 3, from the position shown at D to that represented at D', the said cover, when thus turned and elevated, being arrested and sustained, as before described, by its hooked arm g and its hooked armature. In this Way one or the Whole number of covers may be raised by a single movement of the sliding` frame in the direction of the arrow 2; and when the covers are thus raised and held by the armatures the sliding frame is permit ted to spring back to its original position, and may be afterward moved without disturbing any but such of the covers as have been released and permitted to drop. When any one ofthe armatures is attracted to its magnet and thus moved in a direction contrary to that indicated by the arrowr l in consequence of the completing of the circuit in one of the rooms or apartments of the hotelier other building or vessel, the hooked arm g ot' the corresponding cover will be instantly released, which will permit the said cover to at once fall by its own Weight and thus expose the number designating the room in which the circuit has been completed. The completing of the circuit will also cause the electric alarm to be sounded simultaneously with the exposing of the number. The released cover, in falling, turns, by its own Weight, in the same direction in 'which it is afterward turned by the slide when raised by the latter in order to conceal the number; the said cover, in other words, making a partial revolution when released, and continuing the motion in the same direction, so as to complete the revolution, when operated by the slide.

I have found that by thus turning the covers in one direction only the operating mechanism can be much simplified, and that the usual tendency of pivoted covers, which are turned rst in one direction and then in the otheryto rebound when adjusted, and thus ex pose numbers which should be covered, is entirely overcome.

I claim as my invention-- 1. An electric annunciator in which the covers for the numbers or characters designating the several rooms are caused to turn in one direction only, making a partial revolution when released in order to expose the numbers, and continuing the motion in the same direction, so as to complete the revolution, `when turned to cover the said numbers.

2. A lever armature, F, constructed substantially as described, so that when the circuit is broken it shall be repelled from the magnet by its own gravity.

3. The combination of the arms g at the inner end of the cover spindle or sleeve with the hooked armature F.

4. rlhe combination, substantially as de scribed, otl the slide J and its projections i and t" with the arms h and la" at the inner end ot' the cover spindle or sleeve.

5. The combination of the cover, its arms y, h, and h', the hooked armature, and the slide J with its projections i and t', all substantially as specified.

In testimony whereoil I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribin g Witnesses.

J. B. SHANNON.

I/Vitnesses:

WM. A. STEEL, HARRY Sarrrn. 

